Her story: Taiwan’s Aristophanes – real name Pan Wei-Ju – started off as a creative writer in her native Taipei and eventually started rapping. Being based largely in Taiwan, her recordings were largely within that area and unheard by the outside.

That is until alt-pop’s postergirl Grimes came along and collaborated with Aristophanes on a track called SCREAM taken from 2015’s critically-acclaimed Art Angels. Millions of streams and music reviews ensued, and our gal Aristophanes was finally on the musical map.

New single 人為機器 (Humans Become Machines) sees a further production collaboration with Grimes, which has been supported by the likes of Beats 1’s Zane Lowe.

What makes her so great: Aristophanes’ quirkier take on pop music – combining elements of hip-hop, slam poetry, jazz, soul and electronic – seems to make perfect sense yet remain weird at the same time.

The creative collaboration with Grimes is the perfect conduit for this project to unfold to the mainstream.

Aristophanes being very much the first Taiwanese artist to perform at major festivals around the world, such as SXSW, Laneways and Coachella, should also leave a warm feeling with everyone.

Most-streamed song on Spotify: SCREAM (over 4 million listens so far)

Most-viewed video:

What will she be doing in 2017: Humans Become Machines signifies the first single released from Aristophanes’ forthcoming new mixtape (no sign of a title yet).

Alongside her Grimes hook-up, she’s also teaming up with some other interesting collaborations including Jam City and fast-rising producer Kai Whiston.